UV LAB unveils Le Kraken ephemeral wooden installation
Le Kraken by UV LAB emerges as an ephemeral monumental installation gracing the central esplanade of the historical site housing Les SUBS and the fine arts university of Lyon ENSBA. With dimensions stretching 25m wide, 15m high, and boasting 180m of tentacles, Le Kraken commands attention, constructed from 1000 sqm of reclaimed wood over a period of six weeks with the collective effort of 30 professionals and students.
This imposing wooden structure evokes a sense of awe, transporting viewers to another epoch or perhaps an alternate history. Despite its chilling presence, the Kraken invites interaction, drawing visitors to explore its labyrinthine form and unravel its mysteries.
all images by Collectif des Flous Furieux
Le Kraken acts as A Dynamic Space for Dialogue and discovery
The immersive experience shifts perceptions; what initially appears as a formidable beast transforms upon closer inspection. Visitors can touch, walk through, and even climb the Kraken, blurring the lines between art and reality. The living quality of the installation challenges conventional notions of architectural integrity, embodying a sense of fragility and inclusion.
Le Kraken transcends traditional ontological categories, embodying a political figure that disrupts established hierarchies and boundaries, representing freedom and unpredictability. Its presence challenges the established order, sparking curiosity and prompting contemplation about its next move.
Le Kraken serves as more than just an artwork; it’s a dynamic space for dialogue, play, and discovery, highlighting UV LAB‘s innovative design approach.
project info:
name: Le Kraken designer:UV LAB | @uv.lab location: Lyon, France
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Mexican studio TO Arquitectura has worked with the local community to create a music school that features a vault made from recycled and donated masonry in Mexico City.
Known as the Kithara Music Kiosk, the 645-square foot (60-square metre) project sits on an 860-square foot (80-square metre) corner lot in the Yuguelito neighbourhood. TO Arquitectura completed the project in March of 2022.
TO Arquitectura has built a music pavilion in Mexico City
Yuguelito is located in Iztapalapa, an area that experiences high levels of conflict due to violence, poor soil quality and water scarcity.
Set along the base of the Xaltocan Volcano, an earthquake in 1985 reduced Yuguelito to rubble, and the community has been working to improve the soil for construction and to re-establish the residential area for the last forty years.
It is made of recycled and donated materials
In 2015, the Kithara Project – a classical guitar education program based in Boston, Massachusetts – arrived in the area to offer free music lessons to the community using one of the most popular instruments in the world.
To show their appreciation, the community members donated a small plot next to the local library for a guitar classroom, and TO Arquitectura held a workshop with the guitar students to develop the designs for a music school.
It was built for a community recovering from an earthquake that occurred more than 40 years ago
The resulting structure is a rectangular space that sits diagonally on its site, orienting toward the volcano and the intersection rather than the street grid. This allows the building to be opened up to the views when it serves as a stage for events in the neighbourhood.
The team employed recycled and donated materials and labour from three local builders.
The vault was oriented towards the volcano and town
The open-air, pavilion-like vault is composed of different types of donated masonry, including red brick, cement blocks, volcanic stone, and a red stone called tezontle.
The two-storey vault serves as a shelter for a wooden stand made of reclaimed lumber. A set of concrete stairs climbs up to a set of raked, wooden bleachers that form the classroom space.
It sits on a small, donated plot
A small restroom is tucked underneath the staircase and the landing is used as a teaching platform.
The underside of the bleachers functions as a bandstand with double-height wooden doors swinging open to the community. The reclaimed wood was cut into small sections and assembled like tiles over the doors to create a varied pattern.
Light and airflow through the ground-floor space from doors on each end, while mismatched ceramic pendant lights serve as a small suspended detail.
The combination of wood and masonry creates “an acoustic balance between sound absorption and reverberation,” the studio said.
It employs rainwater capture techniques
Integrated metal scuppers run along the intersection of the vault and the wall and capture rainwater that is piped into a collection chamber and a small garden.
“Nowadays Kithara Music Kiosk has surpassed its intended uses, and the community has used it for making different events like theatre arts presentations, choir concerts and different types of social gatherings,” the studio said.
“It has a personal space scale but it definitely resonates as a collective space.”
Kithara Music Kiosk has been shortlisted in the small architecture project category of the Dezeen Awards 2023.
TO leaders Carlos Facio and José Amozurruita are also members of Mexico City’s Colectivo C733 with Gabriela Carrillo, Eric Valdez, and Israel Espín. Together they have created a brick music school with a coconut wood roof in Nacajuca and a market with an inverted trapezoid-shaped roof structure in Matamoros.
Architecture: TO (Carlos Facio, José Amozurrutia) Project team: Lizeth Ríos, Úrsula Rebollar, Lena Arsenijevic Client: Matthew Rode, Kithara Foundation Structural: Armando Pelcastre Construction: TO, maestro Pablo Escobar Landscape: Entorno, Tonatiuh Martínez
For our latest lookbook, Dezeen has selected eight examples of interiors that were created with reclaimed and recycled materials, including a restaurant in Bangalore and a brick house in Ghent.
Recent decades have seen more awareness and reflection on environmental and sustainable issues both inside and outside the design world, leading a number of designers and architects to choose sustainable design for their projects.
From the use of unwanted items to the application of reclaimed bricks and recycled plastics, the eight projects in this lookbook present ways in which designers have rediscovered the value of waste.
This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.
Photo by Ishita Sitwala
Circus Canteen, India, by Multitude of Sins
Bangalore studio Multitude of Sins designed this restaurant interior, which was shortlisted in the sustainable interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022, to showcase a collage of unwanted objects.
The salvaged objects were sourced locally from a donation drive in a few weeks. The studio categorised them, then organised them into a colourful, stylish interior.
Find out more about the Circus Canteen ›
Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre, Japan, by Hiroshi Nakamura
The Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre (above and main image) was created as an eco-friendly community and educational space for recycling activities, and features a facade made of 700 windows donated by the local community.
Architect Hiroshi Nakamura attached harvesting containers from a mushroom factory to the wall to be used as bookshelves. Unwanted objects were also collected from abandoned houses, previous government buildings and schools in the local area.
Find out more about the Kamikatsu Zero Waste Centre ›
Photo by Sam A Harris
Silo, UK, by Nina+Co
The dining tables of this zero-waste restaurant in London consist of flecked recycled-plastic tops and sustainably-sourced ash wood legs, with mycelium pendant lamps dangling above.
The dining space also features a long bar counter made from recycled plastic packaging.
Find out more about Silo zero-waste restaurant ›
Photo by Magdalena Gruber
Urselmann Interior’s office, Germany, by Urselmann Interior
The renovation of the ceiling in this Düsseldorf office was completed using poplar wood sourced from a tree felled in the nearby city of Krefeld. The studio preserved the existing wooden and terrazzo flooring.
The refurbishment of the office, which is the studio’s own, also included the use of biodegradable materials, glueless joinery and cellulose-based cladding.
Find out more about Urselmann Interior’s office ›
Photo by Syam Sreesylam
Wendy House, India, by Earthscape Studio
This vaulted residence in Bangalore, which sits among eight acres of dense forests, was covered with recycled mudga tiles. Its glass walls were framed with recycled rods.
Earthscape Studio also constructed the building with sithu kal bricks, a traditional technique that is currently not in use. This design revisited the neglected technique to help bring work opportunities to the local community.
Find out more about the Wendy House ›
Photo by Stijn Bollaert
GjG House, Belgium, by BLAF Architecten
Built without supporting interior walls, this house was constructed with reclaimed bricks and features a curved form and brick bonding.
BLAF Architecten designed the unusual curvilinear walls in order for the house to fit in between surrounding trees on the site in Ghent.
Find out more about GjG House ›
Photo by José Hevia
10K House, Spain, by Takk
In the context of global climate change and the energy crisis, 10K House was built on a material budget of only 10,000 euros and features rooms built inside each other to maximise insulation.
Spanish Architecture studio Takk used recycled white table legs to lift one of the interior rooms in the Barcelona apartment, creating space for water pipes and electrical fittings without the extra cost of adding wall grooves.
Find out more about 10K House ›
Photo by Agnese Sanvito
Rylett House, UK, Studio 30 Architects
Studio 30 Architects transformed an old carpenter’s bench into a kitchen island for this London house extension, which includes a living, kitchen and dining area.
The extension was built on the site of a previous conservatory and overlooks the garden through a timber window decorated with plants.
Find out more about Rylett House ›
This is the latest in Dezeen’s lookbooks series, which provides visual inspiration from Dezeen’s archive. For more inspiration see previous lookbooks featuring sunny yellow interiors, beds that have been built into interiors and tiled kitchen worktops.
Architect and restauranteur Elly Ward has opened the low-impact restaurant Edit in London, drawing inspiration from its vegan, minimal-waste menu to create an interior filled with reused and recycled materials.
Ward collaborated with her husband Joe Morris of architecture studio Morris + Company on the project, which was designed using low-intervention methods.
“It’s been designed to be as circular as possible, which is the whole philosophy of the restaurant,” she told Dezeen.
The Edit restaurant features exposed brick walls
Edit is located in a former factory and warehouse building in east London and connected to the adjacent Morris + Company architecture office.
Visitors to the restaurant can view the studio’s models through a large glass door, adding a decorative touch to the space.
This door and a window into the office were two of the main changes Ward made to the existing space, which she has transformed using recycled and reclaimed materials.
A window connects the interior with the adjacent architecture studio
The building’s brick walls – including a former exterior wall that still features old advertising text – were retained alongside the warehouse’s cast-iron columns and beams, forming the structural fabric of the 197-square-metre restaurant.
Ward added lightweight screen partitions that slot between the existing structures, including a wall made from wood and recycled polycarbonate that divides the main dining area from a smaller private dining room.
A polycarbonate screen with wood shelving divides the space
A warm red floor, made from screed topped with a water-based resin, matches the floor in the architecture office next door and contrasts the textured brick wall that Ward and Morris painstakingly unveiled from underneath layers of paint.
At the rear of the space, the duo clad a wall in salvaged maroon terracotta tiles, which merge into the bar counter. These were among the many recycled materials that Ward used for the project.
“I call them my wonky tiles because they’re like the wonky fruit and wonky veg of the industry that gets thrown away because it’s not a perfect carrot,” she said.
Elly Ward filled the restaurant with vintage furniture
The architect also reused the copper from an existing bar in the restaurant, which now clads the sinks in the bathroom.
“It’s all about diverting waste from waste streams,” Ward said.
“When you’re building something new, you have to get things,” she added. “If you can’t buy recycled or reclaimed, you have to look for renewable materials, things that would have otherwise gone to waste but you’ve made into something else.”
“It’s almost a checklist of ‘how circular can you be?'”
A red floor creates a warm atmosphere
Ward also sourced vintage Scandinavian school chairs to provide seating in the restaurant and complemented them with her grandparents’ wooden chairs and vintage Ercol seats.
The accompanying tables have tops made by British company Foresso using waste wood chips set in a plant-based resin, creating an effect similar to wooden terrazzo and adding textural interest to the room.
The tabletops are made from recycled wood and resin
The lighting in the space was handmade by British artist Peter Lanyon using wood salvaged from trees that were trimmed back in a local woodland in Devon. Pieces include a “chandelier” made from a piece of hazelwood with hanging lampshades made from cherrywood veneer.
Throughout the restaurant, the colour palette adds a sense of warmth. While the main room has a red hue, Ward chose a calming green colour for the smaller private dining room.
Lamps made from wood decorate the private dining room
“We started with the red; it’s obviously such a strong colour,” Ward said. “I’m somebody who’s quite into colour and I’m not really afraid of it but I didn’t want it to be a ‘pop’ kind of place.”
In the bathroom, the red hue is tempered by the decorative natural cork that clads the walls in both the main space and the toilet cubicles.
“It’s all waterproof and actually really good for humid, damp environments and you can wipe it clean,” Ward said.
Restaurant guests can admire architectural models while they eat
To Ward, there’s a connection between the food and architecture industries that she wanted to underline in Edit’s design.
“I did a deep dive into the food industry and found out a lot of stuff about provenance and how a lot of the things we’re looking at in the architecture world about circularity and sustainability are kind of echoed in the food industry,” she said.
“I wanted the design to match that philosophy.”
Other vegan restaurants with decorative interiors include Humble Pizza by Child Studios in London and Sydney vegan cafe Gumbuya.
Expanded cork, construction waste and human urine feature in this roundup of brick alternatives, designed to reduce the masonry unit’s embodied carbon footprint.
After concrete and steel, brick has become the latest focus for architects, designers and material researchers hoping to slash the emissions associated with building materials.
That’s because bricks are generally made from clay – a finite resource that needs to be mined and shipped around the globe – as well as being fired in fossil fuel-powered kilns at temperatures of more than 1,000 degrees Celsius, often for several days.
This energy-intensive process generates not just a large amount of greenhouse gas emissions but also carbon monoxide and other dangerous air pollutants, especially in South Asia where kilns are often still powered by coal.
To tackle these problems, brick manufacturers and researchers are increasingly looking at how to make use of local waste materials to create masonry units, as well as reverting to traditional methods of sun-drying to cut out the need for firing.
Read on for seven examples of brick alternatives, ranging from experimental student projects to the Dezeen Award-winning K-Briq, which is set to go into mass production this spring.
Cork blocks by MPH Architects, Bartlett School of Architecture, University of Bath, Amorim UK and Ty-Mawr
Interlocking blocks of expanded cork are stacked like Lego blocks without the need for mortar or glue in this construction system, which was used to build the Stirling Prize-nominated Cork House.
This means the bricks can be used to create structures that are easily disassembled, recycled and reused, as well as having the potential to be carbon negative due to the large amounts of CO2 sequestered by the cork oaks, from which the material is sourced.
London firm MPH Architects has been working on the system in collaboration with various research institutes since 2014, and is now hoping to develop it into a self-build cork construction kit.
Find out more about the cork blocks ›
Photo by Zero Waste Scotland
K-Briq by Kenoteq
At 90 per cent, the K-Briq offers “the highest recycled content of any brick” currently on the market, according to manufacturer Kenoteq, leading the brick to be crowned sustainable design of the year at the 2022 Dezeen Awards.
As the brick doesn’t need to be fired, it requires 90 per cent less energy in its production than a traditional brick and ultimately emits less than a tenth of the carbon emissions in its manufacture.
Out of the brick alternatives on this list, K-Briq is the closest to commercialisation. But its prolonged curing process has previously posed issues for quick-turnaround projects, with South African studio Counterspace forced to abandon plans to integrate K-Briqs into the 2021 Serpentine Pavilion due to long lead times.
Find out more about the K-Briq ›
Building the Local by Ellie Birkhead
This student project from Design Academy Eindhoven graduate Ellie Birkhead makes use of local waste materials such as hair from a hairdresser, horse manure from a stable and wool from a farm to reinforce unfired clay bricks.
The result is different region-specific bricks, which Birkhead argues can help to manage waste in a more circular way and “forge a future for local industry”.
Find out more about Building the Local ›
Gent Waste Brick by Carmody Groarke, TRANS Architectuur Stedenbouw, Local Works Studio and BC Materials
To form the new wing of the Design Museum Gent, architecture studios Carmody Groarke and TRANS Architectuur Stedenbouw worked with materials researchers to turn local municipal waste such as demolition concrete and glass into an unfired low-carbon brick.
This carries one-third of the embodied carbon as a typical Belgian clay brick and is produced in a simple process that is being opened up to the public through workshops, encouraging local residents to have a hand in the construction of their museum.
“The bricks will be manufactured on a brownfield site in Ghent using a clean simple production process, which could easily be replicated in other urban settings,” said Carmody Groarke. “There are no resultant emissions, by-products or waste.”
Find out more about the Gent Waste Brick ›
Green Charcoal bricks by the Indian School of Design and Innovation
These concrete bricks from the Indian School of Design and Innovation in Mumbai are enriched with soil, charcoal and loofah fibres, which create air pockets and help to reduce the amount of cement needed in their production process.
The resulting building blocks are up to 20 times more porous than common bricks, promoting biodiversity by making space for plants and insects in our cities, the researchers claim.
Find out more about Green Charcoal ›
Mycelium Brick by The Living
One of the first experiments in using mycelium at an architectural scale saw New York studio The Living construct 2014’s MoMA PS1 pavilion using bricks that were grown from the root-like structure of fungi.
Based on a process pioneered by biomaterials company Ecovative, this involved placing waste corn stalks from agriculture inside a mould and encouraging the mycelium to grow around this aggregate, effectively cementing the brick.
Mycelium is also increasingly being explored as a means of insulating and fire-proofing buildings that can help to sequester carbon while being biodegradable.
Find out more about the Mycelium Brick ›
Urine bio-bricks by Suzanne Lambert
In this experimental project from University of Cape Town researcher Suzanne Lambert, human urine, sand and bacteria are combined in brick-shaped moulds.
The bacteria triggers a chemical reaction that breaks down the urea in the urine while producing calcium carbonate – the main component of cement – in much the same process that seashells are formed.
“The longer you allow the little bacteria to make the cement, the stronger the product is going to be,” Lambert told Dezeen.
Interior design practice Object Space Place has revamped the Apricity restaurant interior in London with second-hand furniture and reclaimed materials.
The project has been shortlisted in the sustainable interior category of Dezeen Awards 2022, which will announce its winners next week.
The restaurant is furnished with second-hand tables and chairs
Part of the refurbishment involved removing a timber staircase to maximise usable floor space in the basement.
Object Space Place retained the staircase’s treads to reuse them for a new staircase and repurposed the rest of the usable material into decorative timber block wall cladding.
Material salvaged from a timber staircase was used as statement wall cladding
“We saw the old staircase as a materials bank full of wood that we could reuse, so we worked with the contractor to take the staircase apart carefully, grade the timber that was usable and create a repeating block pattern that could be made from these timber components,” Object Space Place told Dezeen.
“The timber wall finish has also been installed on a split batten system, so even if someone wants to change this in the future it can be done relatively easily.”
Skirting boards and architraves were reused to decorate the front of the bar
Architraves and skirting boards removed from the interior were reused to cover the front of the restaurant bar, creating a vertically grooved surface.
The practice overhauled the space to expose some of the original finishes, including brickwork, timber floorboards and aged walls.
“Customers really love the walls, which is interesting as these are simply what we found when we removed the blank white plasterboard wall linings on the ground floor,” said Object Space Place.
“This really epitomises what we discovered about working with waste and the circular economy – the extra effort you have to put in rewards you with a space rich in stories and these stories help add to a dining experience that exemplifies going the extra mile.”
The interior features pendant lights made from waste coffee grounds
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) equipment was retained where possible and reclaimed furniture, sinks and mirrors were sourced to fit out the restaurant, including second-hand dining chairs that were reupholstered to suit the design scheme.
In instances where reclaimed items could not be acquired, new elements with sustainable qualities were used instead, including terrazzo-like surface material by Foresso made from recycled timber and lampshades made from oyster shells or waste coffee grounds.
Foresso timber terrazzo was used on the bar and waiter stations
Object Space Place designed the refurbishment according to its Restorative Design Framework initiative, which is based on circular economy principles.
“We developed a true benchmark in sustainable design and fit-out by applying the principles of a circular economy, particularly designing out waste and pollution and keeping natural resources in use,” the studio explained.
Plasterboards were removed to reveal aged walls
According to Object Space Place, the project achieved a reduced embodied carbon footprint of 45 per cent compared to refurbishments of similar-sized restaurants where new furniture and finishes were applied.
Other restaurants that feature reclaimed materials include an eatery in Madrid with interior features made from upcycled junk and a restaurant in Bangalore decorated with discarded bicycle bells and cassette tape boxes.
Interior construction firm Semba Corporation has renovated the interior of its headquarters in Tokyo to include reclaimed materials discarded during the demolition of other offices.
The company’s redesign of its own office interior is shortlisted in the sustainable interior category for the upcoming Dezeen Awards, which will announce its winners next month.
The interior is made from materials salvaged from demolished offices
Called Semba Good Ethical Office, the project features various pared-back tables, seating and shelving created from materials salvaged from previous office demolitions.
This furniture is positioned across a single open-plan space in Japan’s capital, which is brightly illuminated by overhead lighting and rectilinear windows.
Plinth-like seating and stairs forms a centrepiece
A plinth-like centrepiece takes the form of both a staircase and a designated desk area, which was formed from boxy arrangements of surplus wood and old filing cabinets.
Semba Corporation centred the interiors around two principles – “ethical” and “hackable” design – in order to complete the project, the company said.
Semba Corporation applied its own design principles to the project
“To incorporate ‘ethical design’, a circular interior design [theory], into the office renovation, we mined materials from unnecessary stuff generated by office demolitions,” Semba Corporation told Dezeen.
“Under the theme of ‘hackable design’, we can redefine our working style and attitudes. We completely renovated our office to be friendly to the Earth, people and society,” explained the firm.
Reconstituted foam was used to create padding on benches
According to the company, 80 per cent of the furniture in the Semba Good Ethical Office is reused, while the office achieved a waste-recycling rate of 99 per cent.
Reconstituted foam was used to create the padding on benches that make up informal meeting booths, while various offcuts of wood were used to construct geometric shelves throughout the interior.
Semba Corporation explained that it hopes that other firms will begin to adopt similar design principles when creating their office interiors.
“Especially in Japan, the lifespan from construction to demolition and disposal has become very short since [increasing] economic growth, and waste has been dumped in landfill,” the firm said.
“However, Japanese culture has originally valued attachment to things and has an aesthetic sense to continue to use them with creative ideas. So I think our principles have an affinity to that culture.”
“We hope that ‘ethical design,’ a future-friendly interior design, will be a basic principle in interior design for the future.”
Reclaimed wood was used to form various shelving
Semba Good Ethical Office joins a group of existing self-designed studios that other firms have created to be more sustainable than the average office, according to the companies.
These include German studio Urselmann Interior’s renovation of its studio to include biodegradable, recycled or upcycled materials.
